MONTPELIER (CWNews.com) - The Vermont Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would set up a system of legalized same-sex unions that would essentially create gay marriage.

    The Senate voted 19-11 to approve the civil unions bill after defeating two proposed constitutional amendments that would have banned same-sex marriage 0n Tuesday. Gov. Howard Dean, a Democrat, has said he will sign the bill after it returns to the House of Representatives for reconciling with a similar bill that body passed last month.

    The law was mandated by the state Supreme Court last year when it ruled that denying homosexual couples the same right to legal unions as heterosexuals was unconstitutional. The new law would allow couples to receive a "certification ceremony" from a judge or member of the clergy. They would then receive all the same legal benefits enjoyed by heterosexual married couples.

    "It's a tragic day for the state of Vermont, for the Senate has ignored the will of the people. But it's an even sadder day for the state of marriage," said Janet Parshall of the Family Research Council. "The Vermont Senate's vote today to allow homosexual partners to form 'civil unions' is nothing short of an endorsement of 'same-sex marriage'."

    In all 50 straw polls conducted on the topic in March during Vermont town hall meetings, "same-sex marriage" was overwhelmingly rejected. In addition, "domestic partnerships" -- such as the "civil unions" envisioned by the law -- were rejected by all but four of the 30 towns that included such proposals on the ballot.